IRAQ

Flawed Step On Electoral Legislation - Raghavan and Londoño, Washington Post

Iraq's parliament passed legislation Tuesday setting new rules for provincial elections, a step widely viewed here as critical to the country's process of political reconciliation. But Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the vote over the status of Kirkuk, an oil-rich, ethnically mixed city that Kurdish leaders believe should come under the control of their autonomous regional government in northern Iraq. The move could undermine the legislation and delay the provincial elections, which had been expected this fall. The controversy underscored the tensions across the political spectrum in Iraq, as well as potential flash points for violence.

Kurds Object to Iraqi Provincial Election Law - Alissa Rubin, New York Times

The Iraqi Parliament approved legislation on Tuesday to govern provincial elections, but Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the session, vowing to force the measure to be rewritten, and probably delaying the balloting for months. Provincial elections had been scheduled for October, but because of delays in reaching a compromise on the election law, they had already been set back to December. Now, the approved legislation is likely to be rejected by the Presidency Council, and with more work necessary to reach an agreement, it will be difficult to hold elections before next year, said Iraqi politicians from several parties.

Kurds Walk Out of Parliament - Parker and Hameed, Los Angeles Times

Kurdish lawmakers walked out of parliament Tuesday in protest over a vote on conditions for Iraq's provincial elections that called for ethnic groups to share power in Kirkuk, an oil-rich city that Kurds consider part of their territory. The walkout, which included shouting and accusations of a conspiracy against Kurds, appeared to reduce the chances that the elections would be held this year. There is no law setting out election procedures. US and Iraqi officials have hoped that provincial balloting would ease tensions among the country's main ethnic and religious factions.

Iraqis Cast Doubt on Regional Elections This Year - Associated Press

Iraq's parliament pushed through a law Tuesday meant to pave the way for US-backed provincial elections that will redistribute regional power. But the measure was clouded by a Kurdish boycott, and critics predicted the ballot won't be held this year. The measure still needs to be approved by Iraq's three-member presidential council, which is led by Kurdish President Jalal Talabani, adding significance to the Kurdish objections. Kurdish legislators, along with the two deputy parliament speakers, walked out of the chamber after lawmakers decided to hold a secret ballot that included in the law a requirement for ethnic power-sharing in the disputed oil center of Kirkuk.

British Troops to Pull Out of Iraq Next Year - The Times

Most of Britain’s troops will be out of Iraq in a year, six years after the American-led invasion, Gordon Brown indicated yesterday. British Forces will remain at their present strength of 4,100 for the remainder of the year but there will be a “fundamental change of mission” in the first months of 2009. According to defence and political sources, the numbers will be down to a “few hundreds” by next summer.

Attacks on US Convoys Plummet - Peter Eisler, USA Today

Iraqi insurgents have nearly ceased their once-constant attacks on convoys delivering U.S. supplies for reconstruction projects and equipment for Iraq's security forces, and shipments are at their highest levels since the start of the war. From January through June, there were only 93 attacks on about 6,100 logistics convoys carrying supplies ranging from building materials for schools, hospitals and public utilities to weapons for local police, Pentagon data obtained by USA Today show.

Iraqi Prime Minister to Visit Germany - Associated Press

Iraq's prime minister said Tuesday that improved security means his country is now ready to welcome foreign firms, using a trip to Germany to encourage investment from Europe's biggest economy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the two-day visit by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki offered ''the possibility to open a new chapter in relations'' between Berlin and oil-rich Iraq. Germany vehemently opposed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein, but has since helped the nation try to rebuild its security forces and develop its economy.

Pressure on the Mahdi Army - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal

Iraqi and US troops continue to press the offensive against the Iranian-backed Mahdi Army during a series of raids throughout Iraq. Since July 18, US and Iraqi forces have killed six Mahdi Army fighters and captured 18 during operations in central Iraq. Scores more have been captured, including senior leaders, weapons smugglers, financiers, trainers, and cell leaders. The raids have been driven by intelligence, much of it gleaned from captive Mahdi Army fighters, according to information contained in Multinational Forces Iraq press releases. Captive Mahdi Army leaders and cell members are providing US and Iraqi forces information on leaders and cells throughout central and southern Iraq.

Basra: Good News Story - Barney White-Spunner, The Times opinion

There is an interesting piece of graffiti on a bridge near Basra. A fleeing militiaman has scrawled “We'll be back”; underneath an Iraqi soldier has scribbled in reply “And we'll be waiting for you”. The Shia militias, the Jaish al- Mahdi, who controlled large parts of Basra until March this year, has now gone and instead the city is firmly under the grip of Iraq's new security forces, in whom the coalition has invested so much training. They re-established control in April, in an operation romantically named “The Charge of the Knights”, systematically clearing the city with British and American support, confiscating illegal weapons and arresting the violent gangs whose combination of criminality and vicious extremism was making life a misery for so many of Basra's people.

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

Iraq Approach Likely in Afghanistan - Sean Naylor, Army Times

An adviser to incoming US Central Command boss Gen. David Petraeus predicts that the general will seek to recreate his Iraqi success in Afghanistan, using many of the same methods that appear to have turned the tide in Iraq over the last 18 months. “It can be safely assumed that he will apply many of the lessons learned from Iraq to what has until recently been a forgotten war” in Afghanistan, retired Lt. Col. John Nagl told a packed audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Nagl, who retired this year to become a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, was speaking as part of a panel on “Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare,” held to promote a book of the same name edited by two of the other panelists, Daniel Marston, a research fellow at the Strategic and Defense Studies Center at the Australian National University, and Carter Malkasian, director of the Center for Naval Analyses’ Stability and Development Program.

A Wake-Up Call From Afghanistan - Peter Slevin, Washington Post

When insurgents attacked before dawn and nearly overran the outpost in remote Konar Province, the death toll in that single engagement exceeded the number of US soldiers killed by enemy action in all of Iraq during the first three weeks of July. The assault, which forced the Americans to abandon the outpost, reflected a recent trend: Fifty-two US troops have been killed in action in Afghanistan since May 1, compared with 43 in a quieting Iraq. The numbers are a sign of the resurgence of the Taliban and its allies nearly seven years into the Afghan war launched in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- and a portent of changes to come.

Civilian Risks Curbing Strikes in Afghan War - Thom Shanker, New York Times

Dawn was breaking over Afghanistan one day this month as Air Force surveillance planes locked in on a top-ranking insurgent commander as he traveled in secret around Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban. But as attack aircraft were summoned overhead to strike, according to a recounting of the mission by Air Force commanders, the Taliban leader entered a building. Intelligence specialists scrambled to determine whether civilians were inside. Weapons experts calculated what bomb could destroy the structure with the least damage. It had taken the American military many days to identify, track and target the senior Taliban officer. But the risk of civilian deaths was deemed too high. Air Force commanders, working with military lawyers, aborted the mission. The Taliban leader escaped.

British say Taliban Leader Gives Up, Another Slain - Associated Press

A senior Taliban leader has surrendered to Pakistani authorities and another insurgent commander was killed by a British airstrike in southern Afghanistan, British officials announced Tuesday. A suicide bomber blew himself up earlier in the day in the Afghan capital, wounding three civilians, while clashes in the country's west prompted US-led forces to use airstrikes on Taliban militants, officials said.

Rare Interview of Al-Qaida Commander in Afghanistan - Voice of America

A Pakistani television network has broadcast a rare interview with the top al-Qaida commander in Afghanistan. Geo News says its interview with Mustafa Abu Yazid, an Egyptian, took place a few days ago in Afghanistan's eastern Khost Province. Abu Mustafa al-Yazid is believed to be al-Qaida's third highest ranking leader, behind Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden. The official US government investigation of the September 11 terrorist attacks named Yazid as the terrorist group's chief financial manager at the time of the attacks. Last year, he was named head of al-Qaida's operations in Afghanistan and since then has claimed credit for a wave of deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Afghan Security Forces Hold Key to Success - Jim Garamone, AFPS

Training Afghan security forces is the key to success in the country, but the effort continues to be plagued by a shortage of trainers, the general in charge of that training said today. Army Maj. Gen. Robert W. Cone, commander of the Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, said Afghanistan has “made positive strides in fielding professional security forces that are competent, diverse and capable of providing security,” but that much remains to be done. Cone spoke to reporters gathered at the Foreign Press Center here in a teleconference from Kabul. The command is responsible for training Afghan soldiers and police. The Afghan National Army is doing quite well, Cone said, but the police need continued work.

RAF Reaper Targets the Taleban - Anthony Loyd, The Times

It is the way that the men suddenly scuttle the second before they die that sticks in the mind. What do they hear? The sudden roar of rocket presumably, fired from an invisible unmanned machine 25,000ft (7,600m) above them that captures the flaring, explosive moment of death in granulated infra-red video footage. Reaper, the RAF's latest high-tech acquisition for the insurgency in Afghanistan, piloted by US operators back in distant Nevada: smart technology, futuristic, remote, impressive even, but as the name suggests, it still kills.

Afghanistan Math - David Wood, Military Watch

Math is not the problem here. Clearly, there's a need for more boots on the ground. The 35,000 US troops currently deployed there cannot always hold the ground they've won at great cost. But a simple Iraq-style "surge" won't work there, either. Afghanistan is too big (half again as big as Iraq), too mountainous and too rural to replicate Gen. David Petraeus' campaign of flooding the streets with 28,000 additional soldiers and Marines, as he did in Iraq. In truth, the United States simply cannot deploy and sustain the numbers of troops suggested for successful counterinsurgency by the official U.S. counterinsurgency strategy.

Negotiations Begin with Taliban in Hangu - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal

Just six days after the Pakistani military launched an offensive against marauding Taliban forces in Hangu, the government has initiated peace negotiations with the Taliban. The government of the Northwest Frontier Province "authorized the jirga [tribal council] to finalize the terms with Taliban to halt the ongoing violence in the area," Daily Times reported based on anonymous sources. The negotiations were confirmed by provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. The provincial government ordered the jirga members to keep the terms of the negotiations secret. The Swat Taliban is said to be facilitating the negotiations.

IRAN

Ex-Advisers Warn Against Threatening to Attack - Walter Pincus, Washington Post

The Bush administration should stop talking about a military attack as an option if negotiations do not immediately halt Iran's uranium reprocessing program, two former national security advisers said yesterday. "Don't talk about 'do we bomb them now or later?' " said Brent Scowcroft, adviser to presidents Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush, during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the negotiations between the United States and Iran. Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to President Jimmy Carter, described the Bush administration's policy of maintaining the option of military action as "counterproductive."

THE LONG WAR

Hamdan Had 2 Missiles When Arrested - Jerry Markon, Washington Post

A former driver for Osama bin Laden had two shoulder-fired missiles in his car when he was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001, along with a piece of paper signed by the leader of the Taliban, a US Army Special Forces soldier testified Tuesday. The soldier, identified only as Sgt. Maj. A, told jurors in the military trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan that the paper signed by Mohammad Omar allowed al-Qaeda members to move freely in Afghanistan and to carry weapons.

US Ties Prisoner to 9/11 at Gitmo Trial - Mike Melia, Associated Press

A former driver for Osama bin Laden knew the target of the fourth hijacked plane on Sept. 11, a prosecutor said Tuesday as he sought to undercut defense arguments that the Guantanamo prisoner was a low-level employee of the terrorist leader. Salim Hamdan, the first prisoner to face a US war-crimes trial since World War II, heard bin Laden say the plane was heading for "the dome," an apparent reference to the U.S. Capitol, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Stone. The plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field as passengers overcame the hijackers.

Retreat to Afghanistan - Richard Fernandez, The Belmont Club

The relationship between operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is recognized by the fact that one commander is strategically in charge of both. General David Petraeus was recently confirmed as CENTCOM CINC, placing him in overall charge of military operations both in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. That Iraq and Afghanistan are linked - both part of one big war rather than two separate and independent conflicts - should not seriously be in doubt. The average Jihadi sees both as battlefronts as a single campaign against America. The Times Online recently reported on how the “lions of Islam” were falling back on Afghanistan/Pakistan after their defeat in Iraq.

COMPLEX OPERATIONS

Reality of Collateral Damage - Jim Molan, The Australian book excerpt

In counterinsurgency, the term collateral damage can prompt cynicism from the uninformed, who see it as military techno-speak sanitising the impact of war on ordinary people. Nothing could be further from the truth. For those who do not have the luxury of criticising without offering an alternative, the term collateral damage is practical and well understood. The process saves thousands of innocent lives: if the collateral damage estimate was too high, we had the option of not striking the target.

Filipino War's Lessons - Michael Medved, USA Today opinon

The handsome young Democratic nominee is the most spellbinding orator of his generation, promising dramatic change to correct economic injustice and bring an end to a bloody, unpopular war. Republicans deride him as a showboating demagogue with scant governmental experience and place their faith in a gruff, battle-tested veteran who asks for public patience to fight the war till victory. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, anti-American insurgents have recently lost thousands of fighters to desertion and improved US tactics, but they believe they can exploit their enemy's war weariness. The guerrilla fighters, therefore, intensify their gruesome attacks as part of a conscious effort to influence the November election on behalf of the Democratic "peace" candidate. Though contemporary Americans will assume the above description applies to Iraq and the 2008 campaign, it's also an accurate summary of the situation leading up to the fateful election of 1900 and the darkest days of our four-year war against insurrectionists in the Philippines. This nearly forgotten conflict deserves renewed attention today since the parallels with our present predicament count as both eerie and illuminating.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Military Advisers Say They're Treated as Misfits - Nancy Youssef, McClatchy

Standing next to a screen illuminating a long list of tips, Maj. Anthony Nichols looked out at the classroom of neophyte military trainers and began a lecture about the ways that fellow soldiers will look down at them while they serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. Other soldiers will call them "undesirables," sent in because they had no other place on the battlefield, the instructor said. Some units will kick military advisers out of security briefings. One recommendation: to "patch swap," carry alternative military insignia for their uniforms so they can pretend to be members of other units. It will help them get supplies and equipment more easily. Or at least more respect. "I came armed with a stack of patches... Who am I going to be today?" Nichols said about his time in Iraq. Nichols' depiction is in stark contradiction with Pentagon rhetoric. Top Pentagon officials say that developing a new corps of military advisers is a priority as part of the new emphasis on counterinsurgency. But the military, which continues to use the Army Special Forces to train foreign troops for combat in Iraq and elsewhere, hasn't fully embraced the program to train trainers in counterinsurgency.

Nominees Vow to Restore Trust - Pauline Jelinek, Washington Times

The two men nominated to replace the ousted Air Force leadership said Tuesday they will work to restore trust and confidence in the beleaguered service, under fire for poor handling of its nuclear duties and other missteps. "I believe the most urgent tasks for the new leaders are to steady this great institution, restore its inner confidence ... and rebuild its external credibility," Michael Donley, the nominee for secretary of the Air Force, told a Senate confirmation hearing. He said that he has met with the service's senior leaders in recent weeks and that they are "ready to put the difficulties of the past few months behind them... to learn the appropriate lessons from these experiences and to move forward."

A Promise to Restore Trust in Air Force - Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times

Two defense officials nominated to take control of the Air Force promised Tuesday to work to restore trust after the reputation of the service was battered by accusations that it failed to properly oversee the nation's nuclear weapons and was insufficiently committed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Michael B. Donley, who previously served as a Pentagon administrator, and Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, head of Transportation Command, were nominated to replace Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley, who were fired last month for problems with the service's stewardship of the nuclear arsenal. At a Senate confirmation hearing, Donley, the acting secretary, outlined steps he hopes will improve oversight of nuclear weapons as well as rebuild the credibility of the Air Force.

Donley Pledges to Restore Air Force’s Reputation, Credibility - G. Gilmore, AFPS

The acting secretary of the Air Force told Capitol Hill legislators during a confirmation hearing here today that he’ll work to restore the Air Force’s reputation for excellence. Michael B. Donley told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he’ll work to re-establish national confidence in the Air Forcein the wake of missteps in the handling of nuclear materials that led to the resignations of the service’s top military and civilian leaders. The most urgent tasks for the new Air Force leadership are “to steady this great institution, restore its inner confidence and your confidence in the leadership team and rebuild our external credibility,” Donley said. Donley became acting Air Force secretary after the June 6 resignations of Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley, spurred by a report on the erroneous shipment of four non-nuclear missile trigger components instead of helicopter batteries to Taiwan in August 2006. A year after the mistaken delivery, an Air Force B-52 bomber crew inadvertently flew across the United States carrying six armed nuclear cruise missiles.

Air Force CoS Nominee Pledges Support to Warfighters - G. Gilmore, AFPS

The four-star general nominated to be the Air Force’s next chief of staff today told Capitol Hill legislators that if he’s confirmed he’ll continue to support warfighters deployed around the globe. The Air Force serves as the cornerstone of America’s defense, Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing. The Air Force, Schwartz said, is “capable of delivering combat power and support to joint warfighters any time, any place.” Schwartz is commander of US Transportation Command based at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. On July 10, President Bush nominated him to succeed former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley, who resigned on June 6 along with former Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne over missteps in the Air Force’s handling of nuclear materials.

AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

Start Fighting for Real - Paul Kelly, The Australian opinion

The most highly placed Australian to serve in Iraq has offered a lethal critique of the Australian way of war in its diplomatic, strategic and military dimensions, challenging the orthodoxy of the Howard and Rudd governments. Major General Jim Molan's perspective is unique. In 2004 he served as chief of operations to the US commander of the multinational force in Iraq, General George Casey, seeing virtually nothing of Australian forces but at the headquarters' epicentre. In his new book Running the War in Iraq, Molan has much to say about the war but the sting is his critique of Australia, its war culture and its diplomatic and alliance strategy.

US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

McCain Says Policy on Iraq is Unchanged - David Jackson, USA Today

John McCain and his aides parried Monday with Barack Obama's campaign over Obama's contention that the White House is adopting his ideas on dealings with Iraq and Iran. McCain blasted Obama for opposing the Bush administration's "surge" in Iraq, saying that the extra troops created a sharp drop in violence and conditions for victory. "When you win wars, troops come home," McCain said. "He's been completely wrong on the issue." Over the weekend, the Obama campaign pointed to the Bush administration's talk about a "general time horizon" to withdraw US troops in Iraq and its dispatching of a high-level State Department official to Geneva to meet with Iranian diplomats last weekend about that country's nuclear program. Obama has said he would be willing to meet with Iran's leader and has been calling for US troops to withdraw from Iraq since 2006, prior to the surge. "He said it (the surge) would fail, and he refuses to admit to this day that it succeeded," McCain said.

McCain Highlights Differences with Obama over Iraq - Jim Malone, VOA

As Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama continues his highly publicized overseas tour, his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, is doing all he can to remain part of the election debate. The war in Iraq continues to be at the center of their disagreements. At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire Tuesday, McCain reminded his audience that he was one of the few members of Congress to speak out in support of President Bush's surge strategy in Iraq at a time when the war effort was not going well. McCain added that Obama has yet to say that the surge has been a success. "We would never have succeeded and we would have had defeat, and my friends, that would have been a catastrophe for the United States of America," he said. "He was wrong then, he is wrong now and he still fails to acknowledge that the surge succeeded. Remarkable. Remarkable."

Obama Defends Iraq Withdraw Proposal - Balz and Raghavan, Washington Post

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Tuesday defended his proposal to withdraw US forces from Iraq over a 16-month period and send more troops to Afghanistan, despite what he acknowledged was the opposition to any pullout timeline from the US commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus. "The situation in Afghanistan is perilous and urgent," Obama told a news conference. "We must act now to reverse a deteriorating situation."

Obama Shifts Foreign Policy Debate - DeYoung and Weisman, Washington Post

Sen. Barack Obama, on his first and likely only overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has remade the campaign's foreign policy playing field, neatly sidestepping Republican charges that he has been naive and wrong on Iraq and moving to a broader, post-Iraq focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. In essence, Obama has declared the war in Iraq all but over. "There is security progress," he said during yesterday's news conference in Amman, Jordan. "Now we need a political solution." While a diminished US force under his presidency would continue to protect US personnel, target terrorists and provide training, he said, it would be up to Baghdad to consolidate the victory by "setting up a government that is working for the people."

Mr. Obama in Iraq - Washington Post editorial

The initial media coverage of Barack Obama's visit to Iraq suggested that the Democratic candidate found agreement with his plan to withdraw all US combat forces on a 16-month timetable. So it seems worthwhile to point out that, by Mr. Obama's own account, neither US commanders nor Iraq's principal political leaders actually support his strategy. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the architect of the dramatic turnaround in US fortunes, "does not want a timetable," Mr. Obama reported with welcome candor during a news conference yesterday. In an interview with ABC, he explained that "there are deep concerns about... a timetable that doesn't take into account what [American commanders] anticipate might be some sort of change in conditions." Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has a history of tailoring his public statements for political purposes, made headlines by saying he would support a withdrawal of American forces by 2010. But an Iraqi government statement made clear that Mr. Maliki's timetable would extend at least seven months beyond Mr. Obama's. More significant, it would be "a timetable which Iraqis set" -- not the Washington-imposed schedule that Mr. Obama has in mind. It would also be conditioned on the readiness of Iraqi forces, the same linkage that Gen. Petraeus seeks. As Mr. Obama put it, Mr. Maliki "wants some flexibility in terms of how that's carried out."

The Pakghani Front - Wall Street Journal editorial

Barack Obama yesterday conceded that the surge in Iraq has brought "progress." However, the presumptive Democratic nominee has discovered another American losing cause. The situation in Afghanistan, he said in Amman, Jordan, is "deteriorating" and "perilous and urgent." The junior Senator from Illinois still wants a quick withdrawal from Iraq, despite a contrary view from the military commander there, General David Petraeus. Yet on Afghanistan, Obama turns all militarist. He says he'd send two additional brigades to supplement the 35,000-strong US force. He has previously called for American troops to track down and kill or capture al Qaeda leaders across the border in Pakistan. The Obama push for extra resources isn't out of line with the Administration. In the past year, the US steadily boosted its troop presence in Afghanistan. The Marines deployed in the restive south earlier this year have helped keep that region relatively calm in the summer fighting season.

The NYT and the McCain Op-ed - Washington Times editorial

On July 14, the NYT published an op-ed by Barack Obama explaining his security plan for Iraq, in which he argued in favor of removing US combat troops by the summer of 2010, while leaving a much smaller residual force in place. At the same time, Mr. Obama proposed sending at least two additional combat brigades to support the US military effort in Afghanistan. Fair enough - that's what an Op-Ed Page is for. Unfortunately, the NYT failed to give the same courtesy to John McCain when his campaign staff attempted to submit an op-ed (which we reprint today on our op-ed page) in response to Mr. Obama's submission. When Michael Goldfarb, a member of Mr. McCain's staff, drafted an essay explaining the Arizona senator's position on these issues, it was rejected by NYT op-ed page editor David Shipley. Mr. Shipley e-mailed Mr. Goldfarb that the Obama op-ed "worked for me" because "it offered new information" and because the senator "went into detail about his own plans." Then, Mr. Shipley (a speechwriter in the Clinton White House) told Mr. Goldfarb that an acceptable op-ed from Mr. McCain "would have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory - with troop levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the senator's Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan." With that, Mr. Shipley announced that he would be out of the office this week.

Behind Maliki's Games - Max Boot, Washington Post opinion

There is some irony in the fact that Democrats, after years of deriding Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as a hopeless bungler and conniving Shiite sectarian, are now treating as sacrosanct his suggestion that Iraq will be ready to assume responsibility for its own security by 2010. Naturally this is because his position seems to support that of Barack Obama. A little skepticism is in order here. The prime minister has political motives for what he's saying -- whatever that is. An anonymous Iraqi official told the state-owned Al-Sabah newspaper, "Maliki thinks that Obama is most likely to win in the presidential election" and that "he's got to take preemptive steps before Obama gets to the White House." By smoothing Obama's maiden voyage abroad as the Democratic nominee, Maliki may figure that he will collect chits that he can call in later.

All Hail ‘McBama’ - Thomas Friedman, New York Times opinion

John McCain needs to wake up and smell the Arabic coffee. I know this is not an easy time for him. When you have been beaten up for four years because of your support for the Iraq war, and then you get something big right - your support for the surge - you want to be able to savor that for a while. You want to make your rightness on that issue the issue of this election. McCain was right about the surge. It has helped to stabilize Iraq and create a better chance there for political reconciliation. But Iraq has always been a story full of surprises. And one of the most important political surprises is how quickly the surge has made Iraq safe for Barack Obama’s foreign policy - and for the election policy of the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

An Innocent Abroad - Cal Thomas, Washington Times opinion

I remember the first time my wife and I visited Europe and the Middle East. The trip resembled Sen. Barack Obama's current version of speed travel, but without the entourage, security and network coverage. Armed with Arthur Frommer's "Europe on $5 a Day," we crammed as much as we could into 18-hour days, hitting the museums, art galleries, cathedrals and restaurants. When the tour ended, we had impressions and a slightly better view of the world. There is a difference, though, between a view of the world and a worldview. A view of the world means you might like London and I might prefer Paris, but each preference can be equally valid because it is a matter of individual taste. A correct worldview is a way of not just looking at other countries and people, but having an intellectual and moral center that allows one to distinguish between good and evil; right and wrong; sound economic, social and political policies and bad ones.

UNITED NATIONS

War Crimes Arrest Bolsters Other Courts - Rohde and Lacey, New York Times

The arrest of Radovan Karadzic on Monday gave badly needed credibility to international war crimes tribunals that have struggled for years to bring fugitives to justice, according to former prosecutors, legal experts and human rights groups. Mr. Karadzic will be the third high-profile figure to be brought before a United Nations-backed tribunal on war crimes charges in the last six years, following in the footsteps of President Charles Taylor of Liberia and the Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.

AFRICA

Zimbabwe Crisis Talks to Begin in South Africa - Craig Timberg, Washington Post

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai agreed Monday to start urgent negotiations toward forming a new government, a first but very tentative step toward ending the nation's political stalemate. The deal signed on national television was vague, leaving aside nearly every key question about Zimbabwe's future after almost a decade of ruinous decline. But it included clear language vowing an end to state-sponsored political violence, and set a deadline requiring that the talks conclude within two weeks. Talks were expected to begin Tuesday in the South African capital of Pretoria, wire services reported.

EU Hits Zimbabwe with Enhanced Sanctions - Roy Watson, The Times

The European Union stepped up sanctions against Zimbabwe yesterday, in an effort to increase pressure on Robert Mugabe a day after he signed a pact to enter power-sharing talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. The new embargo identified a further 37 supporters of the regime whose assets will be frozen and who will be subject to a visa ban, preventing them from entering EU territory. For the first time the sanctions will also affect four Zimbabwean companies and aim to close loopholes that have enabled Mr Mugabe to come to Europe almost at will despite being the first name on the travel ban.

Made in Africa - The Times editorial

There are three likely outcomes to the talks launched yesterday in Pretoria on the future of Zimbabwe. One is deadlock. The others are agreements to form a government of national unity or a transitional administration leading to an exit from power, at long last, for Robert Mugabe. In the long term only one of these is acceptable for Zimbabwe's people and their neighbours - Mr Mugabe's exit. But that these talks are happening at all is progress. Negotiations will be tinged with the surreal: Mr Mugabe's representatives will be ensconced with people from whom he stole an election and against whom he sanctioned a campaign of murder and intimidation. Their host will be President Mbeki of South Africa, who needs a just outcome for the sake of his reputation, but for years has shown himself too weak to press for one.

Britain's Dilemma over Mugabe Deal - David Blair, Daily Telegraph opinion

A Zimbabwean opposition leader, lauded for his brave struggle against Robert Mugabe, arrives in London on an official visit as the new prime minister. Morgan Tsvangirai asks Britain to recognise his government and offer millions of pounds of aid. He urges the lifting of all sanctions and declares that Harare's era of isolation is over. Mr Tsvangirai requests Gordon Brown's help in releasing large sums from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He returns to Harare and reports back to his boss - one Robert Mugabe. After they formed a "government of national unity", Mr Mugabe stayed on as president and Mr Tsvangirai became his prime minister. Now Britain faces a cruel dilemma - recognise the government (led by Mr Mugabe) and pour aid into its coffers (controlled by Mr Mugabe), or face the blame for economic catastrophe. At present, this scenario is pure imagination and fantasy. But events along these lines could unfold in the weeks ahead, confronting the Prime Minister and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, with a conundrum. Would they recognise and fund a new Zimbabwean government that includes Mr Tsvangirai in a senior position, but keeps Mr Mugabe as president?

ICC's Blow to Peace Hopes in Darfur - Rivkin and Casey, WSJ opinion

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), has just made a mistake that will make it harder to help people suffering in Darfur. Last week, he filed charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. There is no doubt that terrible crimes have been committed in Darfur. But the international community has been unwilling to use military force to stop the atrocities, and this indictment takes Darfur's second-best hope for peace -- a diplomatic settlement -- off of the table. The ICC was established in 2002, when 60 countries ratified the "Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court." Today it can investigate, prosecute and punish serious violations of international law, including genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the yet-to-be-defined crime of "aggression." It can also follow-up on "referrals" from the UN Security Council. In 2005, the council made such a referral with respect to Sudan's campaign of mass murder in Darfur. Under international law norms, the ICC can prosecute citizens of signatory states. But it cannot prosecute citizens of nations, such as Sudan, that are not party to the ICC.

AMERICAS

Chávez in Russia to Discuss Closer Ties - Anne Barnard, New York Times

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia declared on Tuesday that their countries would more closely coordinate their actions on global oil and gas markets and that they would work together on foreign policy, a sphere in which both countries have sought to counter American influence. Mr. Chávez, who was also expected to sign contracts to purchase more than $1 billion worth of Russian arms, called for the two nations to become “strategic partners” to defend against what he called an American threat to his country.

Chavez Seeks Arms and Energy Deal - Peter Fedynsky, Voice of America

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in Moscow on a two-day trip pursuing arms and energy deals with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev. US interests may be affected by closer ties between Moscow and Caracas. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev welcomed his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez with warm words about trade and cultural ties, saying bilateral cooperation between their two countries helps Caracas maintain regional stability. Mr. Medvedev says in recent times contacts between Russian and Venezuela have become very stable and dynamic. The Kremlin leader says expanded trade, as well as improved humanitarian and cultural relations are among the signs of improved ties between the two countries.

Russia and Venezuela Deal - Adrian Blomfield, Daily Telegraph

With a long shopping list for state-of-the-art defence equipment under his arm, Mr Chavez did his best to ingratiate himself with his hosts. He first signed off on a deal giving Russia's state-owned energy companies – often accused of doubling as private piggy banks for powerful Kremlin forces – exclusive rights to develop new deposits Venezuela's Orinoco Oil Belt. Then he switched smoothly to flattery, with a call for the Russian rouble to replace the US dollar as the world's global currency.

US General Warns Against Russian Bombers in Cuba - Reuters

A top US Air Force officer warned on Tuesday that Russia would be crossing "a red line" if it were to use Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers. Gen. Norton Schwartz, whose nomination to become the Air Force's top military officer is being considered by the Senate, was asked at his confirmation hearing how he would advise US policymakers if Russia were to proceed with such a plan. Russia's Izvestia newspaper this week quoted a "highly placed source" as saying Russia could land Tu-160 supersonic bombers nicknamed "White Swans" in Cuba as a response to a planned US missile defense shield in Europe, which Moscow opposes.

Colombia’s Gains Are America’s, Too - Gates and Santos, New York Times opinion

The dramatic rescue of 15 hostages this month by Colombia’s special forces underscored how far Colombia has progressed - with the strong support of the United States - from a nation under siege by narcoterrorists and paramilitary vigilantes to one poised to become a linchpin of security and prosperity in South America. As we meet today in Washington to discuss the United States-Colombia security relationship, we want to take stock of what has been gained over the past decade and commit our two nations to continue this progress. The remarkable transformation of the security situation in Colombia can be credited in large part to the improvement in the capacity of its military and police - an improvement in which American security assistance has played a key role. The governments of both nations agree that this assistance should continue until the job is finished. Furthermore, we should also increase trade and investment by moving forward on the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement that is now before Congress. Growing prosperity and better standards of living are indispensable to achieving lasting stability in both countries.

ASIA PACIFIC

US Gives Pyongyang No Deadline - Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times

A US-drafted document meant to be the basis for verifying North Korea's recently submitted nuclear declaration contains no timeline, meaning that the process could continue into the next administration, Washington's chief negotiator with Pyongyang acknowledged Tuesday. Christopher Hill, speaking a day before foreign ministers from the six countries negotiating the dismantling of the North's nuclear programs were to discuss the issue together for the first time, also said the draft envisions a role for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog. An agreement on a so-called verification protocol would complete the second phase of a deal reached last year in the talks among North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

Rice to Press North Korean Envoy on Nukes - Associated Press

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hopes to judge North Korea's seriousness about abandoning nuclear weapons when she holds the Bush administration's highest-level talks in four years with the Stalinist state this week. The North has been given a four-page draft document laying out what the United States wants from it to prove it has told the truth about its past atomic programs. Rice expects Pyongyang's foreign minister to provide at least an initial response to the proposal at Wednesday's meeting.

North Korean Verification Holes - Washington Times editorial

On July 12, participants in the Six-Party Talks on North Korean denuclearization announced that agreement had been reached on ways to verify Pyongyang's pledge to end its nuclear weapons programs. But without a serious, intrusive verification system, any agreement with North Korea is worthless - particularly in view of its long record of cheating. Unfortunately, the deal announced earlier this month is less than adequate to ensure that North Korea actually disarms. Until such an arrangement is actually in place, that nation should remain on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Right now, the means of verifying North Korean disarmament claims are shrouded in mystery.

Cambodia Asks UN for Help - Seth Mydans, New York Times

Calling a border confrontation with Thailand “an imminent state of war,” Cambodia asked the United Nations and its Southeast Asian neighbors to intervene Tuesday as hundreds of soldiers faced each other for the eighth day on the grounds of a disputed temple. A bilateral meeting on Monday failed to resolve the standoff and troops from both sides remained camped at the ancient Hindu temple, Preah Vihear, that perches on the edge of a cliff that divides the two nations.

EUROPE

With Arrest, Europe Sees Triumph - Castle and Erlanger, New York Times

Europe on Tuesday welcomed the arrest of Radovan Karadzic not just as a victory for international justice, but as a vindication of the Continent’s favored political doctrine: soft power. “This is a big success for Europe,” Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said on Tuesday after meeting his European Union counterparts here, the group’s headquarters. While encouraging close ties between Serbia and the European Union, the union had also insisted that Belgrade hand over those, like Mr. Karadzic, indicted on war crimes charges. “We stayed obstinate, we stayed persistent,” Mr. Kouchner said.

A Life Laid Bare - Finn and Sullivan, Washington Post

Dragan Dabic, as he called himself, lectured on spirituality, practiced alternative medicine and promised on his Web site to vanquish afflictions ranging from impotence to autism with his "energy healing treatment," His graying hippie disguise -- the ponytail, the big grizzly beard, the outsize spectacles -- was so good that Serbian secret police running a surveillance operation at first found it difficult to fathom who was in their sights. They were tracking suspected associates of the war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic, according to a police source, and had found their way to the strange New Age doctor.

Double Life of a Fugitive - Kulish and Bowley, New York Times

The infamous fugitive, long charged with war crimes, was not in a distant monastery or a dark cave when caught at last, but living in Serbia’s capital. Nor was Radovan Karadzic lurking inconspicuously, but instead giving public lectures on alternative medicine before audiences of hundreds. He was hiding behind an enormous beard, white ponytailed hair topped with an odd black tuft, and a new life so at odds with his myth as to deflect suspicion. On a dreary, rainy Tuesday in Belgrade, the day after Mr. Karadzic’s capture, foes and supporters alike were left to marvel at what appeared to be his complete metamorphosis.

Fugitive Serb's Alter Ego - The Times

The mysterious old man with the flowing white beard who exuded spirituality and became a celebrated alternative healer went by the name of Dr Dragan David Dabic. Yesterday he was unmasked as one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, living an extraordinary double life in the midst of those seeking him for war crimes. Radovan Karadzic may have been lionised in folk songs by Serb nationalists for his ability to avoid capture. Not even his most imaginative supporters would have guessed that he was hiding behind a New Age persona, providing a bio-energy boost and “human quantum energy” for clients in a Belgrade suburb. Dr Karadzic, 63, the Bosnian Serb leader who had been on the run for nearly 13 years, was in a cell last night preparing to appeal against his extradition to The Hague, where he faces 11 charges, including genocide carried out allegedly on his orders.

Arrest Boosts International Justice - Robert Marquand, Christian Science Monitor

The arrest in Belgrade of Radovan Karadzic, political mastermind of the Bosnian genocide, is a clear indication of new Serb president Boris Tadic's intent to integrate his state with Europe, stabilizing an isolated and difficult country and a fragile region, experts say. It also boosts an emerging international justice system, coming a week after The Hague's indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. And it offers an unexpected uplift in the Balkans, where cynicism about unarrested war criminals, including Gen. Ratko Mladic, runs deep.

Ex-Serb General May be Next - Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times

The Serbian government warned former Bosnian Serb military leader Gen. Ratko Mladic on Tuesday that the noose around his neck is tightening after Monday's capture of his fellow war-crimes suspect and one-time friend and political ally Radovan Karadzic. Mr. Karadzic was found by a team sent by the government to trail people thought to be helping Gen. Mladic, and similar methods will be used to locate and arrest the ex-general, said Rasim Ljajic, the Serbian minister responsible for relations with the UN war-crimes tribunal at The Hague. "We will use this information to track down the other Hague accused," Mr. Ljajic said in reference to Gen. Madic at a brief press conference in Belgrade carried live by international television networks.

Karadzic Faces Justice - The Times editorial

Richard Holbrooke, the former American Ambassador to the UN, remarked yesterday: “One of the worst men in the world, the Osama bin Laden of Europe, has finally been captured.” As a description of Radovan Karadzic, that is no hyperbole. Between the declaration of independence in 1992 and the Dayton peace accord that Mr Holbrooke brokered in 1995, Bosnia suffered a campaign of xenophobic savagery by Bosnian Serb forces. Thousands of women were raped. Camps at Omarska, Susica and elsewhere became bywords for beatings, torture and murder. Some 200,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims. In the most horrific act of this war of aggression, 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred at Srebrenica.

Balkan Justice - Wall Street Journal editorial

Anyone who recalls, much less experienced, the genocidal "ethnic cleansing" of Bosnia will rejoice at the arrest of Radovan Karadzic. After more than a decade on the run, the former Bosnian Serb leader will answer for his deeds, and the region will take a big step toward the future. Only two other men have as much blood on their hands in the Balkans. The deposed leader of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, died in a Hague prison cell two years ago while on trial at the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic remains a free man, probably in Serbia, but should be taken soon. The chief UN prosecutor at The Hague, Serge Brammertz, declared Mr. Karadzic's capture, announced late Monday, "an important day for international justice." Not so fast. It was political willpower that finally put Mr. Karadzic behind bars.

Finally, Nowhere to Hide - New York Times editorial

It took 13 years, but we welcome the news that the Serbian secret police have arrested Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader who incited vicious racial hatred and orchestrated some of the worst horrors of the Bosnian war. We await his swift transfer to The Hague to stand trial for his many war crimes. Serbia’s government is crediting sound detective work for the capture; officials said Mr. Karadzic had adopted a “convincing” false identity and was “freely walking” the streets of Belgrade. A more likely explanation is that President Boris Tadic, and his pro-Western government, decided to improve Serbia’s chances of joining the European Union and finally ordered investigators to do their job.

Captured! - Washington Times editorial

The wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, has at last been captured after evading justice for 13 years. One of the most wanted men in Europe, Mr. Karadzic was arrested Monday while he traveled on a bus in a new part of Belgrade. The former Serbian strongman had been working in disguise as a practitioner of alternative medicine. He was apprehended by Serbian security forces based on a tip from a foreign intelligence service. Mr. Karadzic will be extradited to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Indicted in 1995, Mr. Karadzic faces 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. From 1992 to 1996, while he was president of the rump Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, he masterminded a campaign that sought to eliminate Muslims and ethnic Croats from Bosnia. Approximately 200,000 people died in the war in Bosnia and 1.8 million were displaced. Mr. Karadzic, and his chief military commander at the time, Ratko Mladic, are also deemed responsible for the 1995 execution of approximately 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica - the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II. Mr. Mladic remains at large. Mr. Karadzic spearheaded the siege of Sarajevo, from 1992 to 1995, in which an estimated 12,000 people died and 50,000 were injured. The siege was described by the previous UN war crimes tribunal as "scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history."

The Face of Evil - Richard Holbrooke, Washington Post opinion

Standing with Slobodan Milosevic on the veranda of a government hunting lodge outside Belgrade, I saw two men in the distance. They got out of their twin Mercedeses and, in the fading light, started toward us. I felt a jolt go through my body; they were unmistakable. Ratko Mladic in combat fatigues, stocky, walking as though through a muddy field; and Radovan Karadzic, taller, wearing a suit, with his wild, but carefully coiffed, shock of white hair. The capture of Karadzic on Monday took me back to a long night of confrontation, drama and negotiations almost 13 years ago -- the only time I ever met him. It was 5 p.m. on Sept. 13, 1995, the height of the war in Bosnia. Finally, after years of weak Western and UN response to Serb aggression and ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Croats in Bosnia, US-led NATO bombing had put the Serbs on the defensive. Our small diplomatic negotiating team -- which included then-Lt. Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Christopher Hill (now the senior US envoy to North Korea) -- was in Belgrade for the fifth time, trying to end a war that had already taken the lives of nearly 300,000 people.

Serbia's Catalyst for Stability - Elizabeth Pond, Christian Science Monitor opinion

With the arrest at long last of Radovan Karadzic on charges of genocide, Serbia has finally chosen 21st-century Europe over 19th-century chauvinism. We can all cheer, Serbs most of all, and thank the magnetic attraction of the European Union for this long overdue shift. The country is now on its way to becoming a "normal, boring, democratic" Serbia, says Ivan Vejvoda, executive director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy in Belgrade. Oddly enough, it all happened because the Democratic Party – the party that engineered the ouster of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in the 2000 Serbian election – has just joined the remnants of Milosevic's Socialist Party in a coalition government.

War Criminals Can't Hide Under Beards - Con Coughlin, Daily Telegraph opinion

They can run, they can grow the most ludicrous beards and assume exotic new identities, but in the end there is no hiding place for the world's most detested war criminals. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein thought he could avoid detection by growing a beard and taking to his hiding hole on a remote farm in northern Iraq. Now we discover that Radovan Karadzic, the architect of the worst massacres perpetrated on European soil since the Second World War, had also grown a luxuriant beard, took to wearing his hair in the style of an Orthodox priest and assumed a false name.

Serbia's Arresting Development - Laura Silber, Los Angeles Times opinion

After 13 years of fulsome denials, false starts and broken promises, Serbia's new leaders have finally taken the step they said was impossible. On Monday, police arrested Radovan Karadzic, one of the remaining marquee fugitives indicted for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. It's a long way from the early '90s, when Karadzic was the paramount political leader of the Bosnian Serbs and, along with Croatian leaders, tried to militarily partition Bosnia-Herzegovina's territory and create ethnically pure states. Karadzic oversaw the decision-making that displaced 1.5 million people across huge swathes of Bosnia-Herzegovina beginning in late March 1992. They used overwhelming firepower to remove Muslims and members of other minority groups from towns and villages, executing as many of the men as possible and sending away the women, children and old people in buses, cars and trains.

Nine ETA Suspects Arrested, Cell Dismantled - Reuters

Spanish police on Tuesday arrested nine suspected members of Basque separatist group ETA, dismantling its most active cell blamed for a string of bomb attacks and killing a civil guard, the interior minister said. Paramilitary police broke into the apartment of suspected cell leader Arkaitz Goikoetxea, 28, early on Tuesday in the northern city of Bilbao, seizing two handguns and false documents, Interior Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba said.

MIDDLE EAST

US to Meet Syrians, but no Warming in Ties - Reuters

The State Department said on Tuesday a US diplomat will meet three Syrians on a private visit to Washington but made clear this did not signal warmer ties or greater US interest in Israeli-Syrian peace talks. "We have an interest in reaching out to the Syrian people. However, we are going to continue to limit diplomatic engagement unless the Syrian government takes concrete actions to end its destabilizing tactics," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters. The United States accuses Syria of sponsoring terrorism, permitting foreign fighters to cross into Iraq, allowing arms to flow into Lebanon, hosting Palestinian militant groups and violating human rights.

Construction Vehicle Attack in Israel - Isabel Kershner, New York Times

For the second time in a month, a Palestinian plowed a large construction vehicle into traffic on a busy Jerusalem street on Tuesday, before being shot dead. The driver was stopped when a passerby got out of his car and shot into the cabin of the construction vehicle. A border policeman who arrived shortly after fired more shots at the driver, the police said, “to confirm his death.” The attack, which left some 16 people injured, took place in Jerusalem’s upscale hotel district, close to the King David Hotel, where Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, was due to stay on Tuesday evening. Mr. Obama is on a weeklong tour as part of an American delegation.

Bolstering the Arab Center - Marwan Muasher, Los Angeles Times opinion

To be a moderate in the Arab world today sometimes feels like an act of courage, and other times like a leap of faith. Sometimes, it's just plain suicidal. And yet, there has never been a time when moderation is more needed in the region than now. Although Westerners looking at the Arab world tend to focus on its extremists, Arab moderates do exist, and they have -- at least with regard to the Arab-Israeli peace process -- put a number of initiatives on the table (including the Arab peace initiative first floated by the Saudis in 2002 and the Middle East road map of 2003, which was originally proposed by Jordan). To do so, they have to fight against much more radical positions within the Arab world, and in several cases, they have prevailed. Yet today, Arab moderation is at risk as radical forces gain strength throughout the region, marketing a dark vision of the future. Al Qaeda is growing stronger rather than weaker; Hamas has taken over from Fatah in the Palestinian territories. The favorability of the United States has been extremely low throughout the region since the beginning of the Iraq war.

Lebanon's 'Soldiers of Virtue' - Fouad AJami, Wall Street Journal opinion

There have been a dozen prisoner exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel since the early 1990s, but Samir Kuntar was always a case apart. In 1979 Kuntar and his companions killed a policeman, kidnapped a young father, Danny Haran, and killed him in front of his 4-year-old daughter. Then Kuntar turned to the child and crushed her skull against a rock with the butt of his rifle. In the mayhem, Danny Haran's wife, Smadar, hiding in her home, accidentally smothered to death the couple's 2-year-old daughter. Now Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has finally got his way. Last week, Israel handed over Kuntar in return for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, captured by Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. They returned to Israel in black coffins.

SOUTH ASIA

India's Nuclear Deal Back on Track - Bruce Loudon, The Australian

India's crucial nuclear deal with Washington is finally set to go ahead after the country's embattled coalition Government emerged victorious early today from a make-or-break confidence vote in the parliament in New Delhi. After two days of heated debate, the 12-party coalition survived a massive onslaught by combined opposition forces and won a majority in the 543-seat lower house. Early numbers in electronic voting early today gave the Government 253 votes to 232 for the opposition. The finally tally was awaited after paper votes had been counted, but officials said the Government was assured of victory.

India Vote Clears Way for US Nuclear Deal - Lakshmi and Wax, Washington Post

The Indian government survived a crucial vote of confidence on Tuesday, clearing the way for the contentious nuclear energy deal with the United States, after a debate peppered with dramatic allegations of backroom lobbying and bribery. The vote concluded a bitter nine-month battle in support of the deal by the now-beleaguered coalition government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The agreement, which would give India access to the world market for nuclear fuel and technology, must now be approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs the trade of nuclear materials. The US Congress would then vote on the accord.

Indian Government Survives Confidence Vote - Somini Sengupta, New York Times

The Indian government survived a motion of confidence in Parliament Tuesday evening, paving the way for India to seal a landmark nuclear agreement with the United States but leaving the entire parliamentary process tainted by dramatic allegations of bribery made on the floor of the house. In a wider margin of victory than had been predicted by politics watchers, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who initiated the confidence motion, won 275 votes, while his opponents secured 256 votes, and 11 members abstained. It came on the heels of two days of acrimonious debate and constant heckling of speakers, including at Mr. Singh, who was unable to finish his closing speech to the legislature.

India's Outstretched Hand - Washington Post editorial

Until recently, it seemed that an ambitious Bush administration bid to restore nuclear cooperation between the United States and India might be dead, a victim of domestic Indian politics. Anti-American communist parties that support Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's centrist government were blocking the deal. But Mr. Singh took a bold risk to salvage the pact, trading communist support for that of a smaller regional party in hopes of assembling a new majority. Yesterday the gamble paid off, as Mr. Singh's government survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Now, the question is whether the pact can survive the American political process. There isn't much time; under US law, Congress must be in session continuously for 30 days to consider the deal.

EVENTS OF INTEREST

11-15 August - Counterinsurgency Leaders Workshop (Official Event - Workshop). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency (COIN) Center is hosting a five-day program for prospective counterinsurgency leaders, 11-15 August 2008, at the Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The program is focused on equipping leaders with an understanding of the insurgency and counterinsurgency environments, as well as close consideration of the kinds of persons and organizations that usually emerge from insurgencies in contrast to those of conventional conflicts. This event will be held at the Battle Command Training Center (BCTC) Training Facility on Fort Leavenworth. Seating is limited. However, registration is open to any person who serves in any official capacity with regard to dealing with insurgencies, with priority is given to those applying from invited organizations. Other applicants will be reviewed for eligibility on a space-available, case-by-case basis. The duty is uniform/business casual. Application must completed on-line at the link above. The deadline for application is 1 August 2008. For more information, contact the COIN Center at 913-684-5196.

11-12 September - DNI Open Source Conferece 2008 (Public Event - Conference). Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Office of the DNI is pleased to announce the "DNI Open Source Conference 2008" to be held on Thursday, 11 September and Friday, 12 September, 2008 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC. The conference is free; however, all who wish to attend must register online in advance (deadline 31 July). The two-day conference will explore a wide range of open source issues and open source best practices for the Intelligence Community and its partners. We invite participants from the broader open source community of interest including academia, think tanks, private industry, federal, state, local and tribal entities, international partners, and the media to attend. The conference will include speakers from across the broader open source community participating in panel discussions and focus group sessions. Information about the agenda and break-out sessions is now available. The DNI Open Source Conference 2007 was held 16-17 July 2007 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. More than 900 registered participants and speakers attended. Presentations made at the conference break-out sessions are available on the DNI Open Source Conference 2007 website.

16-18 September 2008 - The U.S. Army and the Interagency Process: A Historical Perspective (Public Event - Conference / Call for Papers). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Sponsored by the U.S. Army Combat Studies Institute. The symposium will include a variety of guest speakers, panel sessions, and general discussions. This symposium will explore the partnership between the U.S. Army and government agencies in attaining national goals and objectives in peace and war within a historical context. Separate international topics may be presented. The symposium will also examine current issues, dilemmas, problems, trends, and practices associated with U.S. Army operations requiring close interagency cooperation.